Photo by Silly Little Sparrow

Here's the synopsis:

In the strange, us-versus-them world of the 90’s Christian subculture, your faith was measured by how many WWJD bracelets you wore and whether or not you’d “kissed dating goodbye.”
Evangelical poster-child, Addie Zierman wore three WWJD bracelets, led two Bible studies and listened exclusively to Christian rock. She was “on fire for God,” unaware that the flame of her faith was dwindling until it burned entirely out.
With candor and transparency, Addie chronicles her journey through church culture, first love, and her entrance—unprepared and angry—into marriage. When she washes out of church and nearly her marriage on a sea of tequila and Depression, she isn’t sure if she’ll ever go back.
When We Were on Fire is a funny, heartbreaking story of untangling oneself from cliché in search of a faith worth embracing. It’s a story for anyone who has ever felt alone in a crowded church. For the cynic. The doubter. The former Jesus Freak struggling with the complexity of life.
It’s a story about the slow work of returning to love, Jesus, and (perhaps toughest of all) his imperfect followers. And, in the end, it’s about what lasts when nothing else seems worth keeping.

What do a conservative Christian dancer, a veiled Muslim woman, and an agnostic hippie have in common? It sounds like the beginning of a questionable joke, but in Dina Sleiman's “Dance From Deep Within” it's the premise for a well-choreographed story that will touch your emotions, challenge your perceptions, and leave you cheering for each of the three main characters at the end.

College students Layla, Allie, and Rain must fulfill a class assignment to learn about each other's cultures. As the girls begin to set aside their assumptions about each other based on external appearances and misguided perceptions, a genuine friendship develops between the three that will change each of them forever. 

No matter your own culture, or spiritual status, or lifestyle, or history, you'll find something in common with each of the main characters, and empathizing with them as they wind their way through relationships, family difficulties, and spiritual questions. As each young woman faces a personal crisis, they find comfort and help in their new friendships, and new ways of looking at each other, and at God.

Sleiman has successfully created believable, likeable characters who give an honest, emotional representation of their diverse backgrounds, and a storyline that will leave you wanting more. I've already requested sequels! 

• Girl in the Gatehouse novel by Julie Klassen
• No Greater Love novel by Kathi Macias;
• Breaking Free Day by Day devotional by Beth Moore 

and

Two Scoops of Grace affords a homey, entertaining peek into Jeanette Levellie's real-life “Survivor” show, and wisdom gained in times of trial. Levellie's forty-plus years as a Christian beset with disasters and thirty-plus years as a pastor's wife provide a springboard to encourage anyone seeking more contentment.

Two Scoops of Grace is an inspirational/humorous gift book containing seventy chapters of 650-750 words each, or a total of approximately 50,000 words. Amusing, encouraging, and heart-rending stories of ditzy adventures and hellish nightmares fill the pages. Laugh with the author as she prays for a wife for the lonely new minister and ends up answering her own prayer. Squirm with her as she attempts to answer, “Can preachers have sex on Sundays?” Finally, grow with her as she seeks God's face and some sanity through all the cow pies and chocolate éclairs of life in the real lane.

Each chapter begins with a humorous or touching anecdote from her life. The tone is conversational, putting readers at ease. Jeanette weaves Scripture into the body of the chapters, and ends every story with an insight to apply. A special feature to attract readers is the Two Scoops and a Sprinkle section at the conclusion of each chapter. Here Jeanette shares tips for surviving and thriving in everyday, often messy life.

Two Scoops of Grace speaks to the average Christian woman or man needing reassurance of a God who is interested in their hectic, often-frustrating life. They need confidence in their value to God and His kingdom. They longs to laugh more, at themselves and their crazy world. The humorous stories and caring suggestions in Two Scoops of Grace offer courage, hope and contentment.

This year, I'm determined to read some Christmas themed stories DURING the Christmas season, instead of in January, or in July, like usual.


I started with a brand new release written by fellow Inkwell Inspirations blogger (and debut author) Barbara Early entitled "Gold, Frankincense, and Murder." Red herrings abound in this cozy mystery. I found myself asking "whodunit?" right up until the murderer's unmasking.

A missing coworker. 
A muscle-bound side-kick.
Sometimes the holidays can be murder.

Woven throughout the tale is the systematic dismantling of the heroine's Christmas tree by her cat, Soot. I think I owned that cat, once upon a time. Topping off the story is a sweet touch of romance between the heroine and the hunky hero, Sam. Will they figure out their attraction before it's too late?

As a Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden fan growing up, "Gold, Frankincense, and Murder" was a lovely reminder of what I loved about those early cozy mysteries. Need a quick boost for your Christmas spirit? Download "Gold, Frankincense, and Murder" for Kindle, or order your copy ASAP from White Rose Publishing!

Sometimes a book crosses your path that touches your heart AND makes you think.

Sometimes that book is written by someone you consider a friend, a compatriot, a kindred soul. Such is the case with Patti Lacy's newest release, "The Rhythm of Secrets."

I was privileged to read a draft of the book prior to publication. Patti's gift for setting the scene and fleshing out her characters caught me right away.

I had to know what happened.

That, in my opinion, is the sign of a good book. Not polished prose, not a perfectly orchestrated arc of character development (though Patti is definitely a contender for both), but the ability to grab me and yank me into the story, to make me relate to the characters.

Like the mist that winds through the Mississippi Bayou, revealing a piece here and a piece there,  Rhythm of Secrets carries the reader through the life of Sheila Franklin, the secrets she keeps, and what happens when the truth finally comes to light.

What secrets have you kept from friends, from family, even from yourself? What would happen if those secrets were exposed? Would you be strong enough to bear up under the consequences? Strong enough to choose what's right no matter the cost? It's a question we have to ask ourselves, because one day, those secrets will be revealed.


Buy a copy at amazon.com or christianbook.com And be sure to visit www.pattilacy.com, too! 

Check out the book trailer:

God is continually at work in our individual lives, and He'll use every method possible to demonstrate His love and mercy and grace. That truth provides a framework for Marlo Schalesky's latest release, Shades of Morning.
I was alternately convicted by Marnie Wittier's habit of storing her sorrows, hurts, wounds, and regrets in a box on the shelf; amused by the innocence and wisdom of her Down syndrome nephew, Emmitt; and confused right along with Taylor Cole as to how his life had turned out the way it did.
Best of all, the ending didn't fizzle out, as some do. I was surprised (pleasantly, I might add) right up to the last page. I've read inspirational books that weren't at all inspiring, but Shades of Morning is not one of them. It truly fits the genre description!

MARLO SCHALESKY is the author of several acclaimed novels, including Christy Award winner Beyond the Night.  A graduate of Stanford University, Marlo also has a masters of theology from Fuller Theological Seminary.  She’s a regular columnist for Power for Living and lives with her husband, Bryan, and five children in California.

Back cover blurb: Marnie Wittier has life just where she wants it. Quiet. Peaceful. No drama. A long way away from her past. In the privacy of her home, she fills a box with slips of paper, scribbled with her regrets, sins, and sorrows. But that’s nobody else’s business. Her bookstore/coffee shop patrons, her employees, her friends from church—they all think she’s the very model of compassion and kindness. Then Marnie’s past creeps into her present when her estranged sister dies and makes Marnie guardian of her fifteen-year-old son—a boy Marnie never knew existed. And when Emmit arrives, she discovers he has Down syndrome—and that she’s woefully unprepared to care for him. What’s worse, she has to deal with Taylor Cole, her sister’s attorney, a man Marnie once loved—and abandoned. As Emmit (and Taylor) work their way into her heart, Marnie begins to heal. But when pieces of her dismal past surface again, she must at last face the scripts of paper in her box, all the regrets and sorrows. Can she do it? Or will she run again?

A biographical study of the life of Saint Patrick, this book is part of Thomas Nelson's Christian Encounters series. Author Jonathan Rogers has certainly done his homework with this book.

While legends and myths about Ireland's patron saint abound, very little of what we "know" is true. Combining historical records and research with the Patrick's own writings, Rogers creates a picture for the reader not of an unreachable saint with whom today's Christian has nothing in common, but of a man with personal strengths and weaknesses who lived in a difficult time, called to "buck the system" of religious authority and do something new in his service to God.

For St. Patrick, "the renegade bishop," the voice of God issuing forth from his spirit was more real than the expectations and demands of culture, religion, or tradition. He was a man willing to "lose the culture war" in order to win souls for Christ, a lesson we could all apply in our efforts to evangelize the lost today.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in evangelism, the history of the church, or just intrigued about a man whose life we celebrate every March 17th.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Brian Tome has an excellent point to make: God wants us to be free; more than He wants us to be good, or well-behaved, or "Christian." Tome makes a number of excellent points in his second book, engagingly titled Free Book*, published by Thomas Nelson.

While reading, I frequently scrambled for a pencil to underline Tome's most potent ideas. And yet I also found myself irritated by "shock value" comments and the intrusion of personal opinions that seemed tainted with anger, or disdain.

That's not to say the book lacks value. In fact, it does something fairly rare in most Christian non-fiction: It makes you think, hard. 
Tome's question, "How would you complete the following sentence: 'God's main thing is that He wants me to be ________?" continues to echo through my mind. How do we answer that question, and what's the basis for our answer?

Tome's explanation of spiritual strongholds, and the process of tearing them down, is one of the clearest I've ever read. By defining the stages of dismantling strongholds into four steps, "the Blahs, the Break, the Blues, and the Blessing," Tome provides guidelines for readers that are easy to understand, easy to apply, and relevant to daily life. 

How many of us have recognized strongholds, yet been unable to completely raze them all the way out of our lives because we've stopped before the process was complete? Free Book* lays out clear instructions for removing those strongholds, roots and all, and stepping into further freedom with the help of the Holy Spirit.

If you're grounded in your faith and your knowledge of the Word of God, this is a great book to evaluate the degree of Christ-centered freedom you have, and to identify the hidden places of bondage that hinder you. You might be religious, but are you free?

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”